Looks like it. NASCAR actually puts up full videos of the races on YT, but it looks like there's no live Xfinity series broadcaster over here any longer. Premier still have the rights to the Cup series. And still no love for the Trucks
****NASCAR in 2015****
- Thread starter JRS
- Start date
Looks like it. NASCAR actually puts up full videos of the races on YT, but it looks like there's no live Xfinity series broadcaster over here any longer. Premier still have the rights to the Cup series. And still no love for the Trucks
There's been a few really dumb crashes on the way into pit road at 'dega over the years. High on-track speeds, minimal rear vision, not much time to get it hauled down to the speed limit....
I remember a crash during the '07 Aaron's 499 - Casey Mears in the #25 was coming into the pits, assuming that the Hendrick cars were all pitting together. Only JJ's #48 team hadn't gotten the memo. Casey a) hadn't been waving off to let everyone know he was about to hit the brakes and b) was still riding around about half a groove higher than the typical pit entry line. Casey hits the brakes, JJ noses into the back of him, Casey gets dumped into the inside retaining wall at speed (thankfully one of the SAFER barriers). Lucky not to involve any more cars.
I remember a crash during the '07 Aaron's 499 - Casey Mears in the #25 was coming into the pits, assuming that the Hendrick cars were all pitting together. Only JJ's #48 team hadn't gotten the memo. Casey a) hadn't been waving off to let everyone know he was about to hit the brakes and b) was still riding around about half a groove higher than the typical pit entry line. Casey hits the brakes, JJ noses into the back of him, Casey gets dumped into the inside retaining wall at speed (thankfully one of the SAFER barriers). Lucky not to involve any more cars.
The NASCAR circus will leave Kansas with a few drivers distinctly annoyed. One who won't be is Six-Time™, congrats to JJ for his Cup win 
Ryan Newman, on the other hand, could be forgiven for being annoyed right now. His team lost their final final final final final.......final final appeal for the tyre infraction at Fontana earlier in the year. Todd Parrott (a veteran of this sport) will act as crew chief while Luke Lambert is on the sidelines.
No Xfinity this weekend, but the trucks were in action. Matt Craton won a fuel mileage thriller - no word of a lie, it was genuinely tense! Erik Jones had dominated, leading 151 laps IIRC, but his truck ran dry and he ended up 11th. He ran the Cup race as well (subbing in the #18 for his truck boss Kyle Busch), but his luck didn't really get any better - he led a lap, ran in the top five for ages, then got loose and dropped it on lap 196 while trying to stay ahead of eventual winner Johnson. Such a shame, but that's racin'.
Ryan Newman, on the other hand, could be forgiven for being annoyed right now. His team lost their final final final final final.......final final appeal for the tyre infraction at Fontana earlier in the year. Todd Parrott (a veteran of this sport) will act as crew chief while Luke Lambert is on the sidelines.
No Xfinity this weekend, but the trucks were in action. Matt Craton won a fuel mileage thriller - no word of a lie, it was genuinely tense! Erik Jones had dominated, leading 151 laps IIRC, but his truck ran dry and he ended up 11th. He ran the Cup race as well (subbing in the #18 for his truck boss Kyle Busch), but his luck didn't really get any better - he led a lap, ran in the top five for ages, then got loose and dropped it on lap 196 while trying to stay ahead of eventual winner Johnson. Such a shame, but that's racin'.
The All-Star race at Charlotte was pretty good. Congrats to Denny Hamlin for winning and netting himself $1m! The trucks also raced at Charlotte, Kasey Kahne coming out on top in a brilliant race that ended in the second closest margin of victory ever in the series (0.005sec 
). Unfortunately, his truck then failed tech inspection post-race - too low in the front, too high in the right-rear. Any penalties should be announced on Tuesday.
The Xfinity series raced at Iowa meanwhile, Chris Buescher winning and taking over the points lead. There was a spot of nonsense earlier in the day though. Brennan Poole spun JJ Yeley on lap 153, because he thought Yeley had run into him on purpose before that. Yeley's car was damaged, but fortunately he was uninjured. Poole was black flagged, Yeley furious and denying that the earlier contact between them was intentional on his part.
). Unfortunately, his truck then failed tech inspection post-race - too low in the front, too high in the right-rear. Any penalties should be announced on Tuesday.The Xfinity series raced at Iowa meanwhile, Chris Buescher winning and taking over the points lead. There was a spot of nonsense earlier in the day though. Brennan Poole spun JJ Yeley on lap 153, because he thought Yeley had run into him on purpose before that. Yeley's car was damaged, but fortunately he was uninjured. Poole was black flagged, Yeley furious and denying that the earlier contact between them was intentional on his part.
Jeff Gordon to join Fox Sports' commentary in 2016.
Really don't know how I feel about this. One the one hand, I like Jeff. His commentary appearances in Xfinity races have been good this season, he's probably reasonably knowledgeable about the sport at this pointD) so he'll bring a wealth of experience of modern NASCAR to the booth. But on the other hand - I like the trio as it stands!
Coca-Cola 600 this weekend at Charlotte - Kenseth is on pole, this is how they'll line up. The Xfinity series is also running there on Saturday. Trucks have the weekend off, next up is Dover next Friday.
Really don't know how I feel about this. One the one hand, I like Jeff. His commentary appearances in Xfinity races have been good this season, he's probably reasonably knowledgeable about the sport at this point
D) so he'll bring a wealth of experience of modern NASCAR to the booth. But on the other hand - I like the trio as it stands!Coca-Cola 600 this weekend at Charlotte - Kenseth is on pole, this is how they'll line up. The Xfinity series is also running there on Saturday. Trucks have the weekend off, next up is Dover next Friday.
Austin Dillon dominated the Xfinity race. And I'm ignoring the Cup result, it depresses me.
The Monster Mile bit a few people over the weekend.
Trucks first, and hell hath no fury like a woman who wrecks into the inside wall after someone takes the air off her spoiler:
A distinctly unimpressed JJ Cobb there. Tyler Reddick went on to win with a late pass on Erik Jones, puts him up into second place in the championship.
The Xfinity race turned a bit contentious at the end, with two team-mates battling it out for the win. Chris Buescher got into Darrell Wallace Jr and shoved him up out of the groove a few laps from the end, Buescher going on to win.
Suspect that's going to be a pretty hot debrief at Roush-Fenway....
On to the Cup series, and Jimmie Johnson is inching up on Dale Earnhardt's victory tally - he's now on 74 wins, Dale won 76. The race was shaping up to be a Gibbs one, but their drivers hit trouble. Denny Hamlin led 118 laps but got tapped into a wreck by Clint Bowyer and finished down in 21st. Kyle Busch got taken out while lapping Brian Scott. Carl Edwards got two pitroad penalties - one for taking equipment (and a crewmember, who was fortunately okay!) out of his pitbox when a wedge wrench got hung up in the adjuster, one for speeding later in the day. And Matt Kenseth was penalised for having too many crew members over the wall at a stop on lap 355, then 12 laps later his suspension broke which took him out of the race. Too much other stuff to really list, but definitely worth a watch on YT when NASCAR uploads it.
Trucks first, and hell hath no fury like a woman who wrecks into the inside wall after someone takes the air off her spoiler:
A distinctly unimpressed JJ Cobb there. Tyler Reddick went on to win with a late pass on Erik Jones, puts him up into second place in the championship.
The Xfinity race turned a bit contentious at the end, with two team-mates battling it out for the win. Chris Buescher got into Darrell Wallace Jr and shoved him up out of the groove a few laps from the end, Buescher going on to win.
Suspect that's going to be a pretty hot debrief at Roush-Fenway....
On to the Cup series, and Jimmie Johnson is inching up on Dale Earnhardt's victory tally - he's now on 74 wins, Dale won 76. The race was shaping up to be a Gibbs one, but their drivers hit trouble. Denny Hamlin led 118 laps but got tapped into a wreck by Clint Bowyer and finished down in 21st. Kyle Busch got taken out while lapping Brian Scott. Carl Edwards got two pitroad penalties - one for taking equipment (and a crewmember, who was fortunately okay!) out of his pitbox when a wedge wrench got hung up in the adjuster, one for speeding later in the day. And Matt Kenseth was penalised for having too many crew members over the wall at a stop on lap 355, then 12 laps later his suspension broke which took him out of the race. Too much other stuff to really list, but definitely worth a watch on YT when NASCAR uploads it.
Ah, Pocono....
Not called the Tricky Triangle for nothing
A very popular winner then in Martin Truex Jr - marks the third race on the bounce where he'd led the most laps, this time he was able to seal the deal and end a 69 race winless streak.
He's had a lot go on in the last few years - lost his chance at a run in the Chase in 2013 when MWR got penalised, lost his job at MWR when they had to slim the operation down by 1 car, his girlfriend Sherry Pollex was going through cancer treatment last year. To cap it all, his lost his grandmother a few days before the race.
Kevin Harvick, who finished second, summed it up best:
Just like at Dover, this one is worth a watch when NASCAR uploads it to YT.
The Trucks meanwhile were at Texas, and it all came down to a battle between Matt Crafton and Daniel Suarez:
Bloody good car/truck control from Matt there to keep his foot in it passing Daniel.
No Xfinity series last weekend. Cup and Xfinity run Michigan this weekend, with the Trucks going to Gateway.
Not called the Tricky Triangle for nothing
A very popular winner then in Martin Truex Jr - marks the third race on the bounce where he'd led the most laps, this time he was able to seal the deal and end a 69 race winless streak.
He's had a lot go on in the last few years - lost his chance at a run in the Chase in 2013 when MWR got penalised, lost his job at MWR when they had to slim the operation down by 1 car, his girlfriend Sherry Pollex was going through cancer treatment last year. To cap it all, his lost his grandmother a few days before the race.
NASCAR.com said:
Kevin Harvick, who finished second, summed it up best:
NASCAR.com said:
Just like at Dover, this one is worth a watch when NASCAR uploads it to YT.
The Trucks meanwhile were at Texas, and it all came down to a battle between Matt Crafton and Daniel Suarez:
Bloody good car/truck control from Matt there to keep his foot in it passing Daniel.
No Xfinity series last weekend. Cup and Xfinity run Michigan this weekend, with the Trucks going to Gateway.
Bugger that, leave the bumps there!
As an Indycar fan, I'd rather not see the drivers thrown into the wall at 220mph because of it. The track layout is challenging enough as it is
Drivers have always got the option of slowing down
Next you'll be saying Fontana shouldn't be repaved even though it looks like a speedway version of Sebring right now
Actually, I pretty much agree that the racing surface at Fontana is a disgrace. But if you pave it back smooth, it'll turn an already quite boring NASCAR race weekend into something that might actually be boring enough to kill people. So repave it for the Indy bunch, and give the NASCAR dates to a track that deserves them. Like Darlington
NASCAR is basically gladiatorial combat with cars.
Okay, seriously. The cars in the three major NASCAR series (Sprint Cup, Xfinity Series and Camping World Truck) are spaceframe chassis designs with 358ci (about 5.8 litre) V8 engines. Technology is deliberately kept fairly straightforward - about the closest you'll find to a driver aid is power steering. In spite of that, the engines - pushrod overhead valve large displacement V8s like old-school American muscle - will spin up to 9,800 rpm with piston speeds about the same as F1 engines. Measures to keep speeds in check mean that they're generally producing in the region of 725hp in Cup spec, with restrictor plates at the two large superspeedways (Daytona and Talladega) reducing that to around 445hp.
The tracks are mainly ovals, with a few road courses thrown in. The road courses are Watkins Glen and Sears Point (Cup series), Road America and Mid-Ohio (Xfinity, along with the Glen) and Mosport in Ontario, Canada (the trucks). Two of those tracks (Watkins Glen and Mosport) used to hold F1 races. The ovals range from short half-mile bullrings (some banked, some quite flat) to 1.5mile 'cookie-cutter' tracks to 2+ mile superspeedways. And then there's a few real oddball ones. Pocono, where the series has just been to, is a triangle. Indianapolis also stands apart in that the turns are a bit more separated out. Then there's Darlington, which is egg shaped and still unfathomable despite being on the calendar since 1950. And Eldora, which is a classic dirt track like many from the early days of the sport that hosts a truck series race.
Wikipedia is as good a place as any to start reading up on it, the series website (link) is also quite good.
Okay, seriously. The cars in the three major NASCAR series (Sprint Cup, Xfinity Series and Camping World Truck) are spaceframe chassis designs with 358ci (about 5.8 litre) V8 engines. Technology is deliberately kept fairly straightforward - about the closest you'll find to a driver aid is power steering. In spite of that, the engines - pushrod overhead valve large displacement V8s like old-school American muscle - will spin up to 9,800 rpm with piston speeds about the same as F1 engines. Measures to keep speeds in check mean that they're generally producing in the region of 725hp in Cup spec, with restrictor plates at the two large superspeedways (Daytona and Talladega) reducing that to around 445hp.
The tracks are mainly ovals, with a few road courses thrown in. The road courses are Watkins Glen and Sears Point (Cup series), Road America and Mid-Ohio (Xfinity, along with the Glen) and Mosport in Ontario, Canada (the trucks). Two of those tracks (Watkins Glen and Mosport) used to hold F1 races. The ovals range from short half-mile bullrings (some banked, some quite flat) to 1.5mile 'cookie-cutter' tracks to 2+ mile superspeedways. And then there's a few real oddball ones. Pocono, where the series has just been to, is a triangle. Indianapolis also stands apart in that the turns are a bit more separated out. Then there's Darlington, which is egg shaped and still unfathomable despite being on the calendar since 1950. And Eldora, which is a classic dirt track like many from the early days of the sport that hosts a truck series race.
Wikipedia is as good a place as any to start reading up on it, the series website (link) is also quite good.
Yep, I remember that one. Still have a boxed copy somewhere. And it traces a direct line all the way to iRacing today.
By all means
Bother.
So thanks to Deystorm reminding me about the awesomeness of Papyrus' NASCAR Racing sim intros, I took to Youtube. And then fell down a rabbit hole. But I've clambered back out, and brought the following with me.
So, Deystorm linked to the NASCAR Racing intro. Here's NASCAR Racing 2:
And NASCAR Racing 1999 Edition (which brought us the then Busch series and the Craftsman Trucks!):
Aaaaaaaaand NASCAR Racing 3:
NASCAR Legends, which I still wish someone would do a version of today on a modern platform - truly, the glory days of NASCAR:
NASCAR 4:
NASCAR Racing 2002 Edition:
And then I come a cropper. Mostly because I have NASCAR Racing 2003 Edition still installed (and if you're a sim racer, why wouldn't you? It's like having a Grand Prix Legends install, it's the law
), and I've never had an intro come up beyond the Sierra and Papy logos. I also haven't seen one that purports to be official. Regardless, it's still one of the finest racing sims ever to be released, better in some ways than iRacing even after all this time, and if you can grab a copy of the NASCAR Racing 5 beta .exe file (which was entirely unsupported and unsanctioned by TPTB) then it becomes even better.
So thanks to Deystorm reminding me about the awesomeness of Papyrus' NASCAR Racing sim intros, I took to Youtube. And then fell down a rabbit hole. But I've clambered back out, and brought the following with me.
So, Deystorm linked to the NASCAR Racing intro. Here's NASCAR Racing 2:
And NASCAR Racing 1999 Edition (which brought us the then Busch series and the Craftsman Trucks!):
Aaaaaaaaand NASCAR Racing 3:
NASCAR Legends, which I still wish someone would do a version of today on a modern platform - truly, the glory days of NASCAR:
NASCAR 4:
NASCAR Racing 2002 Edition:
And then I come a cropper. Mostly because I have NASCAR Racing 2003 Edition still installed (and if you're a sim racer, why wouldn't you? It's like having a Grand Prix Legends install, it's the law
), and I've never had an intro come up beyond the Sierra and Papy logos. I also haven't seen one that purports to be official. Regardless, it's still one of the finest racing sims ever to be released, better in some ways than iRacing even after all this time, and if you can grab a copy of the NASCAR Racing 5 beta .exe file (which was entirely unsupported and unsanctioned by TPTB) then it becomes even better.
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Okay, quick round-up of last weekend.
First the truck race at Gateway. Cole Custer got his first win of the year, grabbing the lead on the final restart after Tyler Reddick mis-shifted. Spencer Gallagher was second, just ahead of Johnny Sauter who took a hard fought third. Matt Crafton had led 49 laps and been looking good for fighting for the win before becoming the victim of a John Hunter Nemechek mistake - Nemechek bobbled up into him and sent him firmly into the outside wall late on:
Over in Michigan the Xfinity race turned into a battle between Chase Elliott and Kyle Busch for the win, with Busch coming out on top for his first victory since coming back from his Daytona injury. The race had more than a few cautions, and one red flag:
In the Cup race, Kyle was less fortunate:
It was left to his brother to take the win in a rain shortened event - they only made it to lap 138 out of a scheduled 200, and the race had to be stopped multiple times for the weather.
The trucks are at Iowa next weekend, Xfinity series is at Chicagoland. The Cup series has the weekend off, next race will be at Sears Point for some left and right turns Bit of news in the Cup series - the 2016 rules package that had been discussed (reduction in downforce to match up to the drop in horsepower brought in this season) has been discussed enough that they're going to bring it forward somewhat - should be in place for the Kentucky race in July. Goodyear are going to take some time to get a handle on tyres to match up to it, so we probably shouldn't expect an immediately positive affect. But the drivers who have tested it so far have liked it.
First the truck race at Gateway. Cole Custer got his first win of the year, grabbing the lead on the final restart after Tyler Reddick mis-shifted. Spencer Gallagher was second, just ahead of Johnny Sauter who took a hard fought third. Matt Crafton had led 49 laps and been looking good for fighting for the win before becoming the victim of a John Hunter Nemechek mistake - Nemechek bobbled up into him and sent him firmly into the outside wall late on:
Over in Michigan the Xfinity race turned into a battle between Chase Elliott and Kyle Busch for the win, with Busch coming out on top for his first victory since coming back from his Daytona injury. The race had more than a few cautions, and one red flag:
In the Cup race, Kyle was less fortunate:
It was left to his brother to take the win in a rain shortened event - they only made it to lap 138 out of a scheduled 200, and the race had to be stopped multiple times for the weather.
The trucks are at Iowa next weekend, Xfinity series is at Chicagoland. The Cup series has the weekend off, next race will be at Sears Point for some left and right turns
Bit of news in the Cup series - the 2016 rules package that had been discussed (reduction in downforce to match up to the drop in horsepower brought in this season) has been discussed enough that they're going to bring it forward somewhat - should be in place for the Kentucky race in July. Goodyear are going to take some time to get a handle on tyres to match up to it, so we probably shouldn't expect an immediately positive affect. But the drivers who have tested it so far have liked it.
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I'd love to see more short tracks on the schedule. Not going to happen though, which is why I watch the ARCA series when I need my short track fix
So, as I mentioned before the Camping World Trucks were at Iowa. Last year, Erik Jones ended a run of poor luck by winning there. This year, he's ended a poor run....by winning there. He dominated, in fact, leading 112 laps on his way to Victory Lane. I would like to put a word in for Christopher Bell though, who got a top five place on his CW Trucks debut. Good effort lad
Erik Jones completed the sweep of the weekend, winning the Xfinity race at Chicagoland. A new track record was set along the way - 23 changes for the lead.
A bit more on the rules package changes for the Cup series. The plan is to run the '16 package at Kentucky, and possibly other races though obviously that'll depend on how the first race goes. The changes are as follows:
1) Spoiler height reduced from 6in to 3.5in.
2) Splitter extension panel reduced from 38in to 25in.
3) Splitter overhang reduced by 1.75in.
The plan is that these aero alterations will take about 1,000lbs of downforce off the cars at racing speed.
A bit more on the rules package changes for the Cup series. The plan is to run the '16 package at Kentucky, and possibly other races though obviously that'll depend on how the first race goes. The changes are as follows:
1) Spoiler height reduced from 6in to 3.5in.
2) Splitter extension panel reduced from 38in to 25in.
3) Splitter overhang reduced by 1.75in.
The plan is that these aero alterations will take about 1,000lbs of downforce off the cars at racing speed.
I'm still quite jealous that you were there
So, bit of tyre-wall action:
And a bit of wall-wall action:
Aaaaand a bit of snapped-axle action:
Martin Truex Jr was pretty unhappy with David Ragan after their coming together sent Truex off. That one will have repercussions at some point.
Another weird incident - Matt DiBenedetto got spun on pitroad during the final caution period....by a safety truck. He managed to get back some of the spots he lost in the spin to salvage a 29th place finish, which wasn't too bad.
Anyway, nice win for Kyle Busch, and the first 1-2 with his brother Kurt
Race results.
And now they get to pack everything up, and go to the other end of the country to Daytona! Nice one schedulers!
Well, ****.
The first practice session at Daytona got ugly early. Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch got together, and now eight drivers are going to start the Cup race in backup cars.
***edit***
On the plus side - three of the four Gibbs Toyotas were involved. Every cloud....
The first practice session at Daytona got ugly early. Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch got together, and now eight drivers are going to start the Cup race in backup cars.
***edit***
On the plus side - three of the four Gibbs Toyotas were involved. Every cloud....
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My reaction to the ride Austin Dillon took at the end of the Coke Zero 400:
More on that in a bit.
The race start was delayed by rain, and the tone of the evening was set quite early on. Lap three saw the first wreck, a nine car affair that was set off when David Gilliland bumped Clint Bowyer:
Kyle Busch and Daytona haven't been a happy mix this season:
Braindead Moron™ dropped it once:
Aaaaaaaand then....well, I have to be fair. Not much he could do in this situation:
And still they keep screwing it up:
The big crash:
How he walked away from that one....boy am I glad that they build these cars the way they do. It's amazing how easily air can just pluck one of these fairly heavy cars up off the track at these speeds once they've been knocked. Injuries in the crowd were fortunately minimal. 13 people were looked at, 8 of them didn't require any medical attention and only one was transferred to a local hospital - they've since been treated and released.
So, congrats to Junebug for the win/staying out of trouble. Full results. On to Kentucky, and the first race for the new aero package.
More on that in a bit.
The race start was delayed by rain, and the tone of the evening was set quite early on. Lap three saw the first wreck, a nine car affair that was set off when David Gilliland bumped Clint Bowyer:
Kyle Busch and Daytona haven't been a happy mix this season:
Braindead Moron™ dropped it once:
Aaaaaaaand then....well, I have to be fair. Not much he could do in this situation:
And still they keep screwing it up:
The big crash:
How he walked away from that one....boy am I glad that they build these cars the way they do. It's amazing how easily air can just pluck one of these fairly heavy cars up off the track at these speeds once they've been knocked. Injuries in the crowd were fortunately minimal. 13 people were looked at, 8 of them didn't require any medical attention and only one was transferred to a local hospital - they've since been treated and released.
So, congrats to Junebug for the win/staying out of trouble. Full results. On to Kentucky, and the first race for the new aero package.